Mystery surrounding death of Alyssa Byrne at Lake Tahoe

By Chellie Cervone - Posted: Jan 8, 2013 at 11:43 am

Alyssa Byrne

Death of Alysssa Byrne at Lake Tahoe

The death of Alyssa Byrne at Lake Tahoe seems shrouded in mysterious circumstances.

Alyssa Byrne, 19 went to Lake Tahoe for the popular SnowGlobe Music Festival, a 3 day event. She allegedly became separated from her friends and was found dead days later, presumably due to exposure from the elements.

Initial reports said Alyssa Byrne attended the festival and became separated from her friends on New Year’s Eve. It was also reported that Alyssa Byrne was last seen at the Horizon Hotel and Casino, where she was staying, at 12:30 am New Years Day, indicating that she made it back to the hotel safely.

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More details have been released into the death of Alyssa Byrne and now there are differing accounts.

One of the friends that was with Byrne at the festival, Jay Donnellan, said that Byrne got ahead of the group and they became separated.

Donnellan said that he contacted Byrne via cell phone at 11:23 pm and spoke to her. He said that she said she was on the shuttle bus going back to the Horizon.

Another friend, Micah Alex, said he and his girlfriend talked with Byrne at the Horizon around 12:30 a.m and that she appeared to be impaired.

Police have speculated that maybe Byrne decided to walk back to the hotel, a 4 mile trek in below freezing temperatures, but Donnellan disagrees. He said,

There’s no way she would say ‘I’m on the shuttle bus’ when in reality she was walking. Micah saw her in the lobby. There’s no other explanation. What happened after that, I have no idea.

Hotel surveillance footage at the Horizon does show Alex in the lobby area, however there is no footage of Byrnes.

Police believe there is a possibility that Alex might be confused as to when he saw Bynes at The Horizon, further adding to the mystery surrounding the death of Alyssa Byrne.

Adding further to the mystery is a series of tweets sent out from Bynes twitter account earlier in the day on New Year’s Eve.

After tonight you'll never be apart of my life you won't be a memory of 2013 a new year you'll never be apart your nothing to me

— alyssa byrne (@alyssa_byrne1) December 31, 2012

Just lost all my trust in the person I trusted most

— alyssa byrne (@alyssa_byrne1) December 31, 2012

A few days before that, she tweeted,

I can't do this again… leaving before I get hurt again #goodnight #realizedalottonight

— alyssa byrne (@alyssa_byrne1) December 28, 2012

Was Alyssa Byrne depressed?

It is evident, by reading her tweets on twitter, that she was looking forward to the SnowGlobe Festival.

What is not clear is how her body was found days later lying in the snow about 10 feet off of Pioneer Trail near South Lake Tahoe, about 5 miles from the Horizon.

She was fully clothed, except for her jacket. Also, only one set of footprints were found in the snow.

For people suffering from severe, soon-to-be-fatal hypothermia, it is common to experience a sense of warmth so shedding her jacket, in below freezing temperatures, would not be that unusual.

Was Byrnes walking back to her hotel from the festival, even though she said she was on the shuttle?

El Dorado County Sheriff’s Lt. Pete Van Arnum said

Most of the people, if they were walking on foot and if they were headed back to the Stateline area, would have been going (in) the other direction.

Did Alex really see her at the Horizon in the early hours of New Year’s day?

Strangely, the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office, which is handling the death investigation, has put the official date of death at Jan. 4, the day she was found.

Where was she for the previous 3 days – out in the elements?

Were the others in her group so impaired by the effects of drug or alcohol that their accounts are not accurate?

An autopsy is scheduled for today to help address the mystery surrounding the death of Alyssa Byrne at Lake Tahoe.

Her parents, even through their grief, are very understanding and appear to bear no ill-will to those that traveled with their daughter saying they are like “adopted sons”.